Mozambique LNG project: Some traction at last

Now that a final investment decision (FID) has been taken for the ENI promoted Coral Floating LNG in offshore Mozambique underpinned by Shell’s commitment to offtake all production, consortium leader Anadarko Petroleum has begun work on activating its own Indian LNG projects in the adjacent Rovuma Area 1 Offshore block in which the Indian trio of ONGC, Bharat Petro Resoures Ltd (BPRL) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) are involved.

Anadarko announced that it had finalized two agreements with the Government of Mozambique – together known as the “marine concessions” – which would allow it to design, build and operate the marine facilities for its LNG projects in India in northern Mozambique. This follows the publication of the Mozambican Government Decrees approving those agreements.
But it will be a long while before FID can take place.

No change in project configuration as yet: One of the reasons why ENI was able to get its project off the ground at a reasonable cost was because it promoted a floating LNG system. Anadarko however is not changing its initial project configuration.

Even though there are those who claim that the model must should be changed to take into account market realities. Upstream and downstream links perhaps do not allow Anadarko to make such changes.